1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to accessories for smoking tobacco and more particularly to a spring based pivot mechanism for ejecting a cigarette contained in a cigarette case.
2. Description of Related Art
Cigarette cases are well known devices. Typically, cigarettes are parallel arranged as one row or two vertical rows. It is often that the fingers taking out a cigarette may contact adjacent cigarettes (e.g., filter ends) unintentionally. This, however, may leave germs on the filter end and further spread germs on the filter end into the mouth while smoking. Hence, it is unsanitary.
There have been numerous suggestions in prior patents for cigarette cases having an automatic cigarette dispensing mechanism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,717 discloses a cigarette case for automatically lighting and ejecting a cigarette contained therein. However, its mechanism incorporates many components including pivots, gears, carousel, springs, and electrical devices. Hence, it is relatively complex in constructions, costly to manufacture, trouble-prone, and unreliable in use.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a cigarette case having a simple mechanism for dispensing a cigarette contained therein in order to overcome the inadequacies of the prior art.